


Slipping Through My Fingers

by retrinazambrano



Series: Future, Present, Past [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Outlaw Queen Happy Ending Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2020-04-06 13:17:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19063468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retrinazambrano/pseuds/retrinazambrano
Summary: Regina and Robin send Henry off to university.





	Slipping Through My Fingers

**Author's Note:**

> For OQ Happy Ending Week, day 6: AU happy ending.
> 
> This is far off into the future for TLM, but a sort of deviation - this doesn't mean Robin & Regina end up together at the end of it ;) 
> 
> Title from the ABBA song of the same name.

Robin turns over and hugs his wife to his chest. He can hear her hitching breaths, her sniffles — has been able to ever since he woke up. Regina turns and buries her head against his chest, expelling her tears against him.

"It's gonna be alright, love," he soothes, rubbing her waist gently as he rocks her. "He's gonna be just fine."

"I know," she sniffs. "But I'm his mother. I'm gonna miss him."

"Regina, he's only going to be a few hours away," Robin explains.

Henry's leaving home. Today, they're taking him to his new residence in New York. He's chosen against studying in Storybrooke, opting to spread his wings just that little bit further.

"That's still a good few hours' drive!"

Nothing he says will stop her feeling this way, so he simply holds her through the anguish. It's not to say he doesn't feel it too, he just knows his son has to make his own way in the world, just as he had.

\-----

Robin's tasked with carrying the heaviest boxes into Henry's dorm whilst Henry and Regina carry bags of clothing and the like. He'd said goodbye to Roland the previous evening, and acting ever the teenager, pretended to be blasé about the whole situation, but admitted to his father later that he'd miss his elder brother.

Once all the boxes and bags are unloaded from the car, the three stand awkwardly in the middle of Henry's empty room, Robin insisting that they let Henry do his thing, not to mention the fact that they have a long drive ahead of them, but Regina keeps fussing, suggesting places where he can store things, asking the same questions over and over.

"Mom, really, come on," Henry says, taking a book from Regina's hands, watching as they flop to her sides, defeated. "Let dad take you home, let me do this."

Robin nods in agreement. "You know where we are if you need us."

Henry nods. "Of course I do."

Robin steps forward and envelopes his son in a loving hug, one that he never wants to end and, if he wasn't feeling what Regina's feeling now as keenly, he certainly is now, sucking in a shaky breath. "I love you." Years back, he had no idea he'd had another son, older than Roland, and knowing he'd missed the first few years of his son's life, he put everything into being the best father he could be and, later, the best husband to Regina he could, despite what she had kept from him. Seems funny, but he wouldn't change a thing now.

"And I love you, dad." They pull apart, Robin pressing a kiss to his forehead. He moves back, placing his hand around his wife's shoulders as she gives them both a close-lipped smile, willing for her emotions to not get the better of her.

Except now of course, as much as she loathes to leave her baby, this means it's her turn to say goodbye and, really, what's the point in holding back? Regina steps forward, opening her arms and Henry goes willingly, burying his head in his mother's shoulder, just as Regina does, tears free falling down her cheeks. "I love you so much."

"I know mom, I love you too," he rasps, feeling his mother's fingers carding through his hair in her usual comforting way. He couldn't have a better mother. "Can you let me know when you get home please?"

Regina nods furiously, her heart tearing in two as she looks at her child, her whole life, her everything. "You'll always be my baby, Henry. I can't believe you're here. You're gonna be an amazing young man and I…" she sniffs, pulling herself together somewhat. "I'm so proud of you."

Henry runs his thumbs over his mother's cheeks, wiping the tears away. "I'll be just fine, mom. I promise. You've still got Roland to look after!"

Regina laughs in spite of herself, knowing that she's going to be just as bad when it comes to him. He may not be her son by blood, but he is in all other senses. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Me too," Henry replies, taking her hands. "Be safe, please."

That only serves as another punch to Regina's stomach. "And you be safe, sweetheart."

With one final round of hugs, they leave their son to start his new life.

\------

"You okay?" Robin asks once they're on the freeway, reaching over to place his hand on Regina's thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Mmm," is her response, her eyes closed. "I will be…" is all she manages before she breaks down into tears.

Startled, Robin turns off at the next turning, parking up at the services and kills the engine. He doesn't say anything, simply gathers his wife up into his arms, letting her sob into his shoulder. He strokes her hair, pressing kisses into her hairline as her violent wracks slowly subside into gentle hitches.

She tilts her head to look up; her husband of three years, the man that she fell in love with all over again, the man who forgave her a terrible mistake… and he's looking back at her just as she does he. The same expression. The same adoration and it rushes through her, from her heart right through her body, sparking her nerve endings, her lips meeting his with a ferocity that she's only ever been able to summon with him.

Henry is only several hours away, making a life for herself and Regina can only hope he finds someone like she did. She's got Roland still growing up, needing her. Henry still needs her. Robin needs her. Hell, even Storybrooke General needs her. They all need one another.

She may not have felt her formative years were usual - wrong, even - but adulthood? Motherhood? She can take it on good odds that she did that right.


End file.
